Method and Structure for Efficiently Retrieving Artifacts in a Fine Grained Software Configuration Management Repository

1. A method of querying software code stored in a database, said software code comprising a plurality of units of executable program code in a hierarchical structure having at least one hierarchical level, said method comprising: generating, from said software code stored in said database, a repository of artifacts of said software to be queried, each said artifact comprising one of said units of executable program code, said artifact generating being based on a predetermined level in said hierarchical structure, said generating comprising an extracting from said software code in said database of said executable program code units at the predetermined hierarchical level; receiving an input query; and determining which, if any, of said artifacts of said repository match said input query.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating for each said artifact in said repository a description summary, said description summary comprising a set of keywords contained in said artifact.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said set of keywords comprises non-local entities in said artifact.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: generating for each keyword a description of a context of said keyword as used in its corresponding artifact.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: generating a query summary for said query; comparing said query summary with each said artifact description summary; and generating a set of candidate artifacts based on said comparing.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising: performing a further search on said set of candidate artifacts to further limit a search result.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: normalizing said input query.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said unit of executable code used as a basis of said artifacts comprises a section of said program code for a subroutine.

9. A system for querying software code stored in a database, said software code comprising a plurality of units of executable program code in a hierarchical structure having at least one hierarchical level, said system comprising: a repository generator for generating, from said software code stored in said database, artifacts of said software to be queried, each said artifact comprising one of said units of executable program code, said artifact generating being based on a predetermined level in said hierarchical structure, said generating comprising an extracting from said software code in said database of said executable program code units at the predetermined hierarchical level; an input device receiving an input query; and a comparator determining which, if any, artifacts of said repository match said input query.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising: a description summary generator for generating for each said artifact in said repository a description summary, said description summary comprising a set of keywords contained in said artifact.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein said set of keywords comprises non-local entities in said artifact.

12. The system of claim 10 , further comprising: a context generator for generating for each keyword a description of a context of said keyword as used in its corresponding artifact.

13. The system of claim 10 , further comprising: a query summary generator for generating a query summary for said query; a comparator for comparing said query summary with each said artifact description summary; and a memory device to store a set of candidate artifacts based on said comparing.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising: a comparator to perform a further search on said set of candidate artifacts to further limit a search result.

15. The system of claim 9 , further comprising: a normalizer to normalize said input query.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein said unit of executable code used as a basis of said artifacts comprises a section of said program code for a subroutine.

17. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of method of querying software code stored in a database, said software code comprising a plurality of units of executable program code in a hierarchical structure having at least one hierarchical level, said method comprising: receiving an input query for querying a repository of artifacts having been generated from said software code, each artifact respectively comprising one of said units of executable program code, said artifacts having been generated by extracting from said software code in said database said executable program code units at a predetermined hierarchical level in said hierarchical structure; and determining which, if any, of said artifacts of said repository match said input query.

18. A method of querying software comprising a plurality of units of executable program code in hierarchical structure having at least one hierarchical level, said method comprising: generating keywords for each said unit of executable program code extracted from said software at a predetermined level in said hierarchical structure, said keywords comprising terms inherent in said executable program code, each said keyword including a programming language context of said keyword in said artifact; generating a repository of artifacts of said software, each said artifact comprising one of said units of executable program code; receiving an input query; and determining which, if any, of said keywords match said input query.

19. A method of querying software comprising a plurality of units of executable program code in a hierarchical structure having at least one hierarchical level, said method comprising: receiving an input query, said query having a second plurality of artifacts, each said artifact having been generated as respectively comprising one of said units of executable program code at a predetermined level in said hierarchical structure, said vector space having a first plurality of dimensions, said input query having a second plurality of dimensions smaller than said first plurality; searching said repository as confined in size to contain only said second plurality of dimensions; and determining which, if any, of said artifacts match said input query in said vector-space repository, as determined from searching only said second plurality of dimensions.

20. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of querying software code stored in a database, said software code comprising a plurality of units of executable program code in a hierarchical structure having at least one hierarchical level, said method comprising: means for receiving an input query; and means for determining which, if any, of artifacts of an artifact repository match said input query, said artifact repository having been generated from said software code in said database as a plurality of artifacts, each said artifact respectively comprising one of said units of executable program code extracted from said software code as executable units of said software code at a predetermined level in said hierarchical structure.

21. A method of querying software code stored in a database, said method comprising: identifying units comprising said software code, wherein said units comprise routines and sub-routines included in said software code; generating a repository of artifacts for said software code, each said artifact corresponding to one of said routines or sub-routines; generating a usage summary for each said artifact, said usage summary comprising a listing of non-local identifiers in said artifact, receiving an input query; and determining which, if any, of said artifacts match said input query, said determining initially checking said input query against said usage summaries.